Happy Birthday Jason!
by UnwieldyInk
Summary: Just a little story to celebrate Jason's birthday! This is some AU where everyone stayed at camp instead of spreading throughout the country and also TBM never happened because canon isn't happy anymore


Jason blinked awake, smiling faintly at the ceiling of the Zeus cabin. His cabin wasn't something that was often smiled at, with its sharp corners and cold marble, but today, Jason didn't care. He could see in the corner a little present that had arrived early from Thalia, for his birthday.

His birthday. One of the few days of the year where he could actually kick back and relax. Of course, last year that wasn't the case… Jason remembered his sixteenth birthday a year ago, when Percy and Annabeth had fallen into… no. This would be a better birthday. No reason to remind himself of the last one. Jason pulled himself out of bed, eager to get outside. He'd tried to plan something, but all of his friends (particularly Percy) urged him to relax, and promised to take care of the preparations themselves.

Jason walked over to the dining pavilion hurriedly, but by the time he got there, everyone else was already eating. Jason, the greek members of the seven, Nico, Calypso, Will, and occasionally a few others had claimed one table for themselves, which they fondly called 'the idiot table'. Jason slipped into his normal seat, and began to load up a plate, still in a great mood until Piper turned to him and asked: "What's got you all happy?"

Jason shrugged. "Just excited to see what you guys planned, is all."

"Planned?" Piper looked confused. "Why would we plan any- oh! Your birthday is today, isn't it?"

"Y-Yeah," Jason said with a nervous laugh. Piper hid her face in her hands.

"Oh my gods! I can't believe we forgot. I'm so sorry, Sparky."

Jason felt a pit in his stomach drop just a little bit. "Oh, no, it's fine, really, I don't mind-"

"Oh, and we _promised_ we would plan you something, and oh my gosh, I'm such a bad girlfriend-"

"No no no, it's fine! I didn't really care anyways, I just-"

Piper peeked out at Jason between her fingers, then broke into a huge grin and let her hands drop, shaking her head. "Just kidding, Sparky. We didn't forget." She nudged his shoulder playfully, and Jason felt a little bit of tension run out of him, if only for the relief that he wouldn't have to assure everyone that it was fine all day long.

"That was mean, Mclean."

"Yeah, but the look on your face was worth it."

Jason shook his head, but couldn't help smiling.

"Don't worry, Grace," Leo said from a bit farther down the table. "We've got _lots_ planned for today. You won't even get a minute to breathe!"

"Oh, joy," Jason muttered.

"So finish up your eggs and toast, hotshot, and we'll get started," Percy called.

Jason dug into his breakfast, simultaneously excited and afraid for what the others had in store for him. When everyone had finished, everyone at table idiot started moving in the same direction, so Jason figured he should tag along, too.

"Where are we- Are we leaving camp?" It looked as if their group was headed towards Thalia's tree.

"Awww, c'mon, Jase. You didn't think we were gonna let you have a boring camp birthday," Leo responded.

Jason might've said something back, but was silenced by a white van pulling up to the curb.

"Uh, are we all gonna fit in that?" Jason asked, looking around at their party of eight.

"We can squeeze," Annabeth replied, disappearing around the other side of the car.

Soon, Jason found himself nestled between Leo on his left and Piper on his right, with Nico perched right behind him.

"Why do I have to be in the back?" Nico complained.

"Because, you're, like, five. Babies go in the back," Percy shot back without hesitating.

Then Calypso, who was squeezed next to Nico, spoke up. "I'm not a baby. I'm actually the oldest one here," she said, crossing her arms.

"Okay, babies and ex-immortal sorceresses go in the back," Percy mended.

Annabeth pulled away, and the rest of the drive passed relatively uneventful, except for when Leo decided to engineer a tiny gummy-bear slingshot and pass the time trying to hit different objects as they passed on the highway. Once he hit the woman in the passenger's seat of the car next to them square in the jaw, and the whole car erupted in conflicting noises; none of them were quite sure whether they should scold Leo or cheer for him. Cheering won out, in the end. The woman's reaction _was_ pretty funny.

Still, they pulled up at their destination, a huge parking lot resting next to some amusement park, relatively all still intact, and all climbed out one by one.

"An amusement park?" Jason looked at the towering rides with a hand over his brow to shield himself from the sun.

"Yup!" Piper appeared next to him. "Don't worry, it's a mellow one. We're not trying to kill you."

"I never know with you guys."

The next thing Jason knew, he was strolling around the park, arm in arm with Piper, surrounded by his friends. He never had been much one for roller coasters, but it was actually really fun. They wandered around in different sized groups at different times of the day, went on as many rides as they could squeeze in, ate corndogs and cotton candy, and tried their hands at the fair games surrounding the park. At one point, Piper knocked over all of the bottles in a stack with one throw, and received a gigantic sky blue elephant, which she promptly gave to Jason. "This is your birthday gift," she told him.

"Oh, you didn't get me anything else?"

"Nope! Whew, now I don't have to feel bad about it." Piper wiped her brow overdramatically, making it clear that she was joking. Jason grinned.

There was another time when Jason was in a ferris wheel compartment with Percy, Nico, and Leo. By the time they reached the bottom again, Jason had come to a definite conclusion: the four of them should _never_ be in an enclosed space together ever again.

Eventually, they got to the end of the day, and Jason found himself sticking his legs through the bottom of the fence on the side of the boardwalk, staring at the sunset. All of his friends were perched in various positions on the railing, crowding together.

"Okay, um, maybe it's time for presents?" Piper asked.

"Wait! We gotta call up our Roman buddies first!" Leo said.

Percy fished up a drachma, and with a little salty ocean spray manipulating, they had an iris message floating in front of them. Crowding the frame were Frank, Hazel, Reyna, Dakota, and some of Jason's other Camp Jupiter friends. They apologized for not being there, but Jason understood: if the whole gang decided to fly across the country for every single birthday, they would soon all be broke.

Now, a huge lumpy bag was dumped on Jason's lap like a hodgepodge santa's sack. Jason soon discovered that, like santa's sack, it was filled with presents.

Jason was really excited about all of them; a board game or two, custom-made socks with 'sparky' and 'blond superman' written all over them, accompanied with different lightning bolt and superman patterns, tickets to see a band he liked. But by far, the one he enjoyed the most was the joint present from everyone in the group: a simple chain necklace, with a flat pendant that had etched on one side the symbol for Camp Half-Blood, the other side the symbol for Camp Jupiter. Beneath both of the symbols, the word _family_ was engraved.

Jason wore it proudly from the moment he saw it.

That night, as he climbed into bed in the Zeus cabin, the taste of frosting still lingering, Jason clutched the pendant tightly. It was nice, he thought. To have something physical to remind him that he wasn't alone. To remind him that his family was bigger than he could've ever hoped for. To remind him that people cared about him.

He fell asleep with a smile on his face.


End file.
